A Testbed for Architectural Modeling

Abstract

This paper describes the philosophy and implementation of a modeling system that is easy to use yet addresses some of the difficulties of design. It does this by supporting concurrent schematic and geometric representations, alternative solution schemes, ambiguous and incomplete specification, and multiple levels of detail through a wide range of scale. The system treats an object as a hierarchical record of design decisions and treats geometry as an artifact of traversing a decision tree. For displaying geometry, the system incorporates fast rendering techniques for interactive use and global illumination algorithms for design evaluation and final presentation. The system is intended to serve as an extensible testbed for long-term research in modeling and design. Vigorous use by students in the Department of Architecture at Cornell is the vehicle for system evaluation and redirection of research goals.